AN account of the tenants of Glenconner, “the most enterprising of any family ever reared about Ochiltree,” contains the following:-
“When the poet was about to publish he went with his manuscript to Glenconner, where he was a frequent visitor. Having some friends with him, there was a scarcity of beds; so after supper the lassies went to Barwharrie, then belonging to the Rev. Mr. Reid, minister of Ochiltree, and spent the night there. Not in sleep, however, for before leaving home they had managed to get possession of Burns’s manuscript, over which they spent the whole night, and were back at Glenconner in the morning before breakfast. They often spoke of the extraordinary power with which Burns read his poetry. “Guid auld Glen,” as the Bard styled him, was so affected by the reading of Burns, that, when he promised to send him any of the verses, Glen entreated him not to send them, but to come himself and read them.”